Last Update: March 01, 2023, 08:43 IST
Harmeet Desai, Yashaswini Ghorpade and Sutirtha Mukherjee
First-time World Table Tennis (WTT) star contenders Harmeet Desai, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Yashaswini Ghorpade have booked their places in the singles main draw of Goa.
Three Indian paddlers make it to the singles main draw for the first time World Table Tennis (WTT) star contenders Goa, as the two-day qualifiers concluded on Tuesday.
Teenager Yashaswini Ghorpade led the charge as all three Indians made the first qualifier of the domestic WTT event a memorable one by ousting higher-ranked opponents in two matches on day one.
The main draws will be played from Wednesday to Sunday.
Yashaswini, the youngest of the three qualifiers, was also the first player in women’s singles. She took out two Koreans in her way, first Cheonhui Joo, ranked 103rd, in the second round and then Nyoung Kim, ranked 104th.
While it took her four games to beat Xu (11-7 11-6 9-11 11-8), Kim proved tougher and took the full five games to beat the youngster 11-6 1-11 5-11 11-5 Pulled up to 11-7 result. Yashaswini is currently ranked 196 in the world.
“I am qualifying for a Star Challenger tournament for the first time and I am really happy. Beating a good player has helped me gain good experience which is a great thing,” said Yashaswini after her win.
The next Indian was Sutirtha Mukherjee, currently ranked 147 in the world. She beat Chinese Taipei’s Li Yu-Jhun (world rank 92) 3–0 (11–9 11–8 11–6) in the first round and then defeated Korean world number 107 Yunhee Lee 3–1 (11–9 6). -11) 11-6 11-8) in the third round to make a round of 64.
While she will take on compatriot Suhana Saini in the main draw, Yashaswini will take on world number 38 Japanese Miyu Nagasaki.
Harmeet Desai was the only Indian to qualify for the main draw from the men’s singles qualifiers.
He was outstretched to the hilt by both his opponents. First, German world No. 99 Fanbo Meng went the distance and then 84th-ranked Argentina’s Horacio Cifuentes took another 3-2 (11-7 9-11 11-7 8-11 11-5) from the 29-year-old senior. Forced to result. Paddler from Surat.
“Playing at home definitely helps as the crowd has been very supportive since the first game itself. The games have been very competitive and it has kept me on my toes which has motivated me more,” said Harmeet after making it to the main draw.
In other qualifying results, Korea also gained two spots in women’s singles, while Thailand gained one after Orawan Paranang beat India’s Reith Tennis 3–1 (5–11 11–7 11–1 11–7). Beat off. qualifiers.
England, Turkey and Hong Kong took the other three women’s singles qualifying berths.
Korea also secured two qualifying berths in men’s singles, while Hong Kong and Belgium also secured one berth each.
World number 112 Hungary’s Bence Majoros caused an upset in the final game of the evening when he defeated Japan’s Mizuki Oikawa 3-2 (9-11 11-7 15-13 4-11 13-11).
However, Japan caused an upset on the day when Yuta Tanaka, seeded supreme in the qualifying draw, was beaten by China’s Xu Yingbin in four games 3–1 (11–9 10–12 11–6 14–12). Made it Main draw.
The men’s third round saw two young bespectacled athletes compete in another interesting qualifying match. 16-year-old French talent Felix Lebrun emerged victorious in the end, defeating 2019’s Manush Shah to enter the main draw. India 3-1 (12-10 5-11 11-8 11-6) in his third round qualifier.
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